McGuffey's Eclectic Readers: Fifth Reader

By: William McGuffey

Narrated by: Robin Field

Born in 1800, William Holmes McGuffey had a remarkable ability to memorize, and could commit to mind entire books of the Bible. After becoming a teacher at the age of 14, classroom size was just one of several challenges faced by McGuffey. In many one-teacher schools, students’ ages varied from six to 21, and few textbooks existed.

In 1835, a publishing firm asked McGuffey to create a series of graded Readers for primary level students. The series consisted of stories, poems, essays and speeches and it is estimated that at least 120 million copies of McGuffey's Readers were sold between 1836 and 1960, placing its sales in a category with the Bible and Webster’s Dictionary. Since 1961 they have continued to sell at a rate of some 30,000 copies a year. No other textbook bearing a single person's name has come close to that mark.

©2010 Mission Audio (P)2010 Mission Audio

Educational Instruction for Generations

I chose to purchase this audio version of McGuffey's Fifth Reader for a specific reason. I need to publicly share a personal story from my own life to illustrate the connection between the book and myself.

When I was in high school decades ago, one teacher had an assignment where the students had to bring a book they enjoyed for pleasure and read part of it in class. Before the class that day, I remember thinking: "I'm reading on command. That's not the same as reading for pleasure." I definitely recall reading the book I brought to school in a somewhat monotonous style because I was reading on command. I remember the teacher criticized me for my monotonous delivery.

In the Audible sample of McGuffey's Fifth Reader, the story is told about king Frederick the Great of Prussia He commanded some people to read. One person was monotonous, and a second person read too slowly and emphasized. every. word. The third person read with expression. From the Audible sample of McGuffey's Fifth Reader I realized, as an adult who is now over four decades old and still willing to learn, that it is possible to both verbally read on command and do so without monotony.

I also value this title because the McGuffey readers have historical significance. According to two artificial intelligence sources I consulted, the McGuffey readers were published in the 1830's and were required textbook reading for American school children until the 1930's when one of my grandparents was of school age. Bottom line: I recommend this audiobook equally for the enjoyable stories and the lessons those stories can teach.